diff --git a/rdflib/term.py b/rdflib/term.py
index ff357d4de..0a136684c 100644
--- a/rdflib/term.py
+++ b/rdflib/term.py
@@ -1641,16 +1641,17 @@ def _parseXML(xmlstring: str) -> xml.dom.minidom.Document:  # noqa: N802
 def _parseHTML(htmltext: str) -> xml.dom.minidom.DocumentFragment:  # noqa: N802
     try:
         import html5lib
-
-        parser = html5lib.HTMLParser(tree=html5lib.treebuilders.getTreeBuilder("dom"))
-        retval = parser.parseFragment(htmltext)
-        retval.normalize()
-        return retval
     except ImportError:
         raise ImportError(
             "HTML5 parser not available. Try installing"
             + " html5lib <http://code.google.com/p/html5lib>"
         )
+    parser = html5lib.HTMLParser(
+        tree=html5lib.treebuilders.getTreeBuilder("dom"), strict=True
+    )
+    retval = parser.parseFragment(htmltext)
+    retval.normalize()
+    return retval
 
 
 def _writeXML(  # noqa: N802
diff --git a/test/test_literal/test_xmlliterals.py b/test/test_literal/test_xmlliterals.py
index 626755e24..ab0e8e5f5 100644
--- a/test/test_literal/test_xmlliterals.py
+++ b/test/test_literal/test_xmlliterals.py
@@ -100,6 +100,11 @@ def testHTML():
     assert l2.value is not None, "xml must have been parsed"
     assert l2.datatype == RDF.HTML, "literal must have right datatype"
 
+    l3 = Literal("<invalid", datatype=RDF.HTML)
+    assert l3.value is None, "invalid html must not be parsed"
+    assert l3.datatype == RDF.HTML, "literal must have right datatype"
+    assert str(l3) == "<invalid", "invalid html must not be normalized"
+
     assert l1 != l2
     assert not l1.eq(l2)